Programs & Events 2009
Chargé Levine Visits First Certified Passive House in Szada
On October 7, Chargé Levine visited the first certified Hungarian Passive House in Szada. László Szekér, the architect of the house, joined him for the visit. Programmer and mathematician György Balogh and his family own the 126 square meter house which meets the stringent requirements of the Passivhaus Institut in Darmstadt, Germany.
Passive House is a German standard of low-energy use. The basic idea is to reduce the energy usage of a home by 90% over traditional code built homes. Passive houses are heavily insulated and practically hermetically sealed, and must consume no more than 15kWh of energy per square meter per year. The Szada house utilizes triple glazed windows mainly oriented to the south, heat recovery ventilation and insulation systems. In place of a traditional boiler, the house has a 500-liter insulated tank to store water heated in solar panels. The house also has a back up electric heater that uses no more energy than a hairdryer. The construction cost was around HUF 230,000 ($1250) per square meter which is not significantly more than a conventional home. Chargé Levine noted that the Passive House provides a useful example to the U.S. Embassy in Budapest as it also attempts to minimize its environmental impact.